I'm Not Missing the Chance to Be a Mom
by bamwhatjamie
Summary: Their one year anniversary has finally come, and Castle is about to find out he's going to be a daddy.. again. Go through the trials and joy they face as they go through this together. PLEASE REVIEW! Some sex scenes in it so its rated M.
1. Happy Anniversary Daddy! (chapter 1)

Castle was driving back from the precinct. He looked at his wedding band on his left hand. They'd gotten married one year ago today.

He had told Kate that he'd left his jacket at the precinct which was true but he'd left it on purpose. He was using it as an excuse to go to the precinct so he could get their anniversary gift to her, which he'd been hiding in Espo's desk. He hoped she wasn't suspecting anything, but her being a detective, he wouldn't be surprised if she had figured out something was up. What Castle didn't know was that she hadn't figured anything out, but she did have a secret surprise of her own.

When Castle walked into the loft, he could smell the spaghetti Kate was cooking.

"Kate?" he called walking into the kitchen. She wasn't there.

"In the bedroom, Castle!" her voice coming from their room.

After they'd gotten married, well, actually for a long time Castle had called Kate, "Becket" at work and Kate everywhere else. After they'd gotten married , he'd gradually started to call her Kate more and more at work until he was calling her Kate all the time. At first, she was annoyed by it, but then she realized how cute it was that he wanted to call her by her name all the time, and since they were married now and not just colleges, it made sense to call each other by their first names. But everyone except his fans, his mother, and Alexis called him Castle, and that was what she liked calling him. So he was still Castle to her, which he liked.

He walked into their room but was stopped in his tracks.

"Wow! You're… sexy!" he said. She was wearing a red low cut cocktail dress and red stilettos.

She smiled at him. "Thanks, Castle. Burn this picture into your mind because you won't see me like this for a long time." She told him.

"Damn it!" he said, his dreams crushed. But he wouldn't be disappointed by that when he found out why.

She smiled knowingly to himself. "Come on Castle, let's go eat." She said taking his hand and pulling him with her out to the kitchen.

After dinner, they were sitting on the couch together, side by side, with their fingers intertwined.

"Kate?" he said.

"Yes Castle?" she answered, looking up at him without taking her head off his shoulder.

"Can I give you your present now?"

She chuckled, sitting up and looking him in the eyes. "Nope…" she replied.

"Ok, so I… wait. What?" he looked at her obviously very confused.

"Nope. Not until I give you yours." She said smirking at him.

"I can't argue with that. So what'd I get?" he asked. He was in "nine year old on a sugar high" mode now and she was going to take advantage of it.

"You have to find it."

"What? How?" he asked, his curiosity rising even more.

"With clue. Here's you first one." She said handing him an index card. "So I get to the detective now? YES!" he said before he took it and read it out loud. "Go where you write best."

He knew exactly where this lead. He went to his study, with Kate following him.

"Ok now what?" he looked over at her.

"Find your next clue Castle. You know how this game works by now, don't you? We do this every day." She told him, but by then he wasn't listening anymore. He was now reading the index card that was on the desk.

"Go to the.." he paused, "bathroom?" he finished, looking at her clearly very puzzled.

He shrugged and walked into their room and into the bathroom. He looked around, confused. He looked at Kate, then back around, then back at Kate again. When he looked around for the third time, he saw it. A little purple package, tied with a purple ribbon. His face lit up when he found it, but he was still a little confused.

"_Why is it in the bathroom?" _ he thought to himself.

He looked back at her before he hesitantly picked it up. He looked at her again. He slowly opened it. There was a not. "Happy Anniversary Daddy!"

Now he was really confused.

"_Why would Alexis leave a gift on the… wait!" he thought.._

For the first time since he opened the package, he actually looked at the box, and then his heart skipped a beat. It was a pregnancy test.

"_No, no way!" _he thought as she started to open the box.

"_Is this real?" _

He pulled the test out of the box. He looked at her and her smile was so big, and his was even bigger as he turned the test over. Two blue lines. Positive. He was filled with so much joy. He looked at Kate in disbelief as if he was looking for confirmation. She nodded, and he ran towards her and hugged her tightly, and he kissed her over and over again.

"We're having a baby!" he whispered into her ear as he fought back tears, hugging her still.

"Yeah Castle. We're having a baby." She whispered, as tears rolled down her cheeks as she hugged him tightly.

When he pulled away from her he looked her in the eyes.

"I can't top that gift, but I think you'll still like yours." He told her. He took a small, long box and gave it to her. She smiled as she opened the small box. Inside she found a little note that said, "I love you with all my heart! Love, Rick" and with it she found a diamond necklace in the shape of a K. She gasped a little, as she looked up at him. "It's beautiful, Castle." He beamed as he took the necklace and helped her put it on.

"Just like you." He told her, wrapping his arms around her from behind. He kissed he cheek. "Do you wanna call it a night? We can spend the rest of the night together in our room." he said.

"That depends." She replied, turning around to face him. He looked puzzled . "On what?"

"On what we're going to be doing." She said mischievously.

"I have a few ideas you might like." He said playing along with her game.

"I was thinking we could maybe start with… this." He said and lunged towards her kissing her passionately .

"Close the door and I'll show you something special." She said.

He did and they made love like it was the first time.


	2. Telling People (chapter 2)

CASTLE!

Chapter 2: 10 weeks along

Kate woke up wrapped in Castle's arms and smiled. His hand lay protectively over her belly. She was just starting to show and she and Castle had decided that they were going to tell everyone at the precinct about the baby today. They had already told Martha, Alexis, and Jim. Alexis was beyond excited and happy. She was ecstatic and over joyed by the news of being a big sister.

Even though they hadn't told anyone at the precinct yet, Kate had a feeling Espo might know something was up. Earlier in her pregnancy, he had offered her coffee and she had declined. Then another time one day she had been talking to him and in the middle of their conversation she had a sudden wave of nausea come over her and had to run to the bathroom to throw up. And id Espo knew something, then Ryan probably did too. But honestly Kate didn't really care if they had figured out she was pregnant or not, she was just happy that she was.

When she and Castle had first gotten married, she was pretty sure that she didn't want kids. But then Castle had started to show her all the pictures he took of her or them together and told her about of all of the funny stories and adventures they shared and she changed her mind, for two reasons. One was that he made being a parent sound amazing, like something she did not want to miss out on in her life. And the other main reason she had changed her mind was that she wanted to see Castle raise their child like he did with Alexis. Just then the sound of Kate's cell phone ringing interrupted her thoughts. Castle groaned as the sound woke him up.

"Beckett?" she answered. "Ok we'll be there in twenty." She said before hanging up.

"Come on Castle. We've got a murder." She told him, getting up and freeing herself from his arms, which she didn't necessarily want to do.

He groaned again and got out of bed to start his day.

"Hey, don't forget we're telling everyone about the baby today." She reminded him.

"Oh yeah!" he said happily, he mood changing instantly.

When they walked into the apartment where the crime scene was, they were all smiles.

"Hey Lanie!" Kate said, approaching her best friend, who was kneeling beside the victim examining him.

"Hey, girl. Hey Castle." She said greeting her friends.

"So what do you got for me?" Kate asked.

"White male, late 30's to early 40's. Time of death is within the last 9 to 12 hours. Cause of death is blunt force trauma to the head, and I'm pretty sure the murder weapon was some kind of rod or pipe." Lanie told them.

"It was a pipe. This pipe to be exact." Ryan came up behind him holding a pipee in a gloved hand.

"Wow. We're getting a lot of info without doing anything." Castle said.

Lanie gave him a look. "Speak for yourself. I've been here for an hour examining this damn body."

Kate laughed. "He was very reluctant to getting out of bed until I reminded him of a very special fact."

"And what might that be?" Espo asked, coming up behind the three of them.

Kate looked at Castle. "Do you want to tell them?" she asked.

"Sure. Ok so guys.. well,.. uh, Kate and I.. Kate is pregnant." He finally said.

Lanie's eyes got big. "OMG! Girl I am sooo happy for you!" she told Kate, hugging her tightly.

"Wow. Congrats bro." Espozito said, slapping him on the shoulder.

"Yeah man, that's great." Ryan said.

"Thanks guys." He said.

Kate and Castle were on a cloud the rest of the day.


	3. Boy or Girl (chapter 3)

Castle was pacing back and forth in the front entry way of the loft.

"Come on Kate! We're going to be late!" he called.

She was getting ready to go to her ultra-sound appointment. Today they would find out the gender fo their baby.

"Castle we have nearly and hour before we have to be there! Chill out!" she called back from their bedroom.

"Sorry! I'm just really excited." he told her.

He got tired and bored of pacing so he decided to go back to his room and hang out with his wife while she finished getting ready.

When he walked into their room he found her looking at her belly in the mirror.

She didn't hear him come in so she didn't know he was watching her. She rubbed her belly, as she started talking to her baby in her belly.

"Your daddy is so excited to meet you. I think he wants you to be a boy since he has a daughter already, but he'll love you no matter what you are and so will I." She stopped talking and turned around to go get a shirt out of the closet and noticed Castle standing there for the first time, surprising her.

"Oh! Castle, you scared me. How long have you been standing there?" she asked sheepishly, embarressed.

"A while." He replied. "You're adorable with your bump." He siad, walking over to her and putting his hands on her belly giving her a kis on her lips.

"Now finish getting ready so we can get out of here."

Fourty-five minutes later they were in a room waiting for the doctor. Once again Castle was pacing back and forth anxiously.

"Castle!" Kate said, trying to get his attention. He was making her kind of nervous. Either he hadn't heard her or was ignoring her. But her was now playing with a model of a fetus at the time when women typically went into labor.

"Castle!" she called again,

"What?" he asked, hearing her this time. Stop playing with stuff!" she said. She felt like she was baby sitting an eight year old.

"But this is entertaining." He said, whining.

"Castle! Put- the-fetus-down!" she said, emphasizing each word.

"Uh! You're no fun!" he complained, mumbling something else she couldn't hear clearly.

"I swear you're eight years old!"

"No I'm…" he started to protest but at that moment Kate's doctor walked in, not giving him the chance to finsh, causing Kate to smirk at him.

"Hello Mr. and Mrs. Castle."

"Good morning, Dr. Moore." Kate said.

"Hello Doc." Castle said.

"So are we going to reveal the gender today?" the doctor asked as he squirted gel onto Kate's exposed belly.

At that point Castle had put the model fetus down and had sat down beside her bedside, holding her hand. Kate suddenly felt nervous, and she knew Castle could sense it.

"Yes!" they both said at the same time, causing the doctor to laugh a little.

First they listened to the baby's heartbeat, and then the moment they'd been waiting for finally came.

"Ok.." the doctor said studying the screen."It looks like you two are having.. a baby boy." He announced smiling at them. "Congratulations you two." He said as he wiped the gel off her belly.

Suddenly Kate felt tears rolling down her cheeks, surprising herself by crying. "We're having a baby boy". She said, her voice cracking. But Castle didn't notice because he was still staring at his son on the screen.

When he finally looked down and saw that she was crying, he couldn't help but tease her a little bit.

"Oh my gosh! Is the bad ass Kate Beckett Castle crying? I have to get this on camera!" he said taking out his phone.

"Castle! Stop teasing me. Its not nice." She said.

The doctor chuckled, which pissed Kate off even more. Castle kept teasing until she had had enough and smacked him hard on the arm.

"Knock it off!" she said sharply, the anger in her voice was clear.

Castle stopped immediately, a little surprised by her reaction.

"Sorry." He said.

"Whatever!" she snapped, storming out of the room.

"Well she's not happy." The doctor said.

"Thanks, because I can't see that my wife is upset!" he said sarcastically, annoyed.

The doctor's face turned red, and without saying another word he handed Castle the sonogram pictures and quickly left the room.

When Castle walked out and to the front desk, Kate was just finishing scheduling her next appointment. When she saw him she gave him an angry look and stormed out to the car. As soon as Castle got in the car she let him have it.

"I can't believe to teased me about that! It was an emotional moment I had never experienced before and you made fun of me! In front of the doctor, who laughed at me!" she was clearly very pissed off. He apologized, but she didn't say anything else the rest of the way home, and when they got home, she went straight to their room, slamming the door behind her.

He sighed and sat down on the couch. He was just playing around with her and knew it was probably her hormones that made her react the way she did. As he was trying to think of a way to make it up to her, she came out of their room and sat down beside him.

"I'm sorry for teasing you." He told her.

"No Castle. I over reacted. I see now that I'm calm that you were just playing with me." She said. She took his hand in hers and held it. Suddenly the baby kicked and made her gasp.

"What is it?!" he asked, worried. She put his hand on her belly and hers on top of his and waited. Then the baby kicked again. This was the first time he'd felt the baby kick. Kate had felt it before but it surprised her this time which is why she gasped. She saw the look on his face turn to pure joy.

"Wow! That's amazing", he said.

"I know." Kate agreed.

He started rubbing her belly

"I love you Kate." He said.

"I love you too Castle." She replied.

Castle had forgotten how amazing it felt when he felt a baby kick inside the woman he loved that he'd felt when he felt Alexis kick for the first time. The baby kicked again. Castle said wow again.

Kate laughed at that.

"Once again, I love you Castle.

"I love you too, Kate" he said, as he put her hand on top of his, where it was still rubbing gentle circles on it.

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Authors Note: Next chapter has mature castle fluff. Viewer discretion is advised!


	4. Time to Spare (Chapter 4)

Authors Note: This chapter is very mature with pure Caskett fluff. Reader discretion is advised.

(24 Weeks)

It was late when they finally walked in the front door of the loft.

"I'm so tired Castle." Kate said.

"I know babe." He said putting his arms around her. "I need to get some writing done, and since we already ate, how about you head off to bed and I'll be in there in a little while.

"Hmm... you know, I'm suddenly wide awake and want some major love from you." She said teasing him.

"Huh..." he pretended to think for a moment before replying. "I just realized that I have control over when I write, for the most part anyway, and Gina just gets it published. So I have some time to spare on you."

"Oh really?"

"Yup! As much time as you want."

"Well then let's go!" she said laughing. She lunged at him and started kissing him passionately. He laughed as her hand slipped under her shirt as she began to take it off of him. He took her shirt and bra off and caressed her swollen breasts.

"You know, this might be one of my favorite things about you being pregnant," he said kissing them, "Your boobs are huge."

She laughed as she slipped her hand into his pants. As soon as her hand brushed up against his groin, he immediately went hard moaning with pleasure. He began fumbling with her pants and underwear, trying to take them off while kissing her at the same time, but he stopped and put his hands on her belly, kissing it all over, but she was anxious and horny, so she finished taking her own pants and underwear off, then immediately went to work on his pants and boxers.

She moaned as he reached down and started to finger her. She was already very wet. When she finally got his pants and boxers off she began stroking his very hard penis, and he moaned with pleasure as soon as she touched it.

"Oh, Kate!" he cried. He began moaning loudly as he climbed closer and closer to his release.

She too was very close; the need to feel him inside her was growing, so she pushed him down onto their bed, straddling him.

"Come on Castle! Get inside me already! I can't wait any longer!" she said lifting herself up so he could push inside her.

When they connected she let out a gasp of pleasure, moaning at the contact.

"Yes, Castle! Yes!" she cried as he pushed inside deeper and pulling in and out in a fast, steady pace.

"You're so tight babe! It feels so amazing!" he moaned.

"Castle!" she said, moving her hips trying to get him deeper inside her body.

"Ooohh! Harder Castle!" she cried.

"Oh God, Castle, I'm about to… aaahhhh!" she didn't even get to the end of her sentence before she tightened hard around his penis, reaching her peak, crying out at the release. Nearly screaming his name. The pressure of her tightening around him sent him over the edge, and he moaned loudly, spilling everything he had into her, causing her to cry out again.

"Kate!" he cried. "Oh my God! You're even more amazing at sex when you're pregnant!" he said, panting.

But she barely heard him because she was still moaning, her orgasm winding down. She pulled away from him and collapsed on the bed beside him, completely exhausted.

"Wow." She said, trying to catch her breath, which took longer since she was pregnant. She scooted over closer to him so he could wrap his arms around her. "Are you ok?" he asked noticing her shortness of breath. She nodded.

He put one of his hands on her belly, rubbing gentle circles on it. "Hope he didn't get too shaken up in there." He said chuckling.

She smiled and put her hand on top of his. "I'm sure he's fine. Maybe he enjoyed the ride." She said. He laughed again.

"I love you Kate." He whispered.

"I love you too Castle." She said. She cuddled up closer to him and together they fell asleep, hands still resting on her belly.

Castle woke up to someone knocking on their bedroom door, but ignored it, not wanting to be disturbed, particularly not wanting to wake Kate up. But he had forgotten that he and Kate were both completely naked, and for some reason not covered up with the blanket, or anything else for that matter. Suddenly the knocking stopped and whoever it was opened the door.

"Oh -my -God! Gross!" Alexis cried.

Frantically, he tried began trying to cover Kate and himself up with the blanket, by that time Kate was wide awake and trying to help him. After Alexis had slightly from the shock of seeing her dad and step mom, who she considered her mom completely naked, it was actually a very amusing sight.

When they had finally covered themselves up, Castle looked Alexis sheepishly and said "What?" a hint of annoyance in his voice.  
"Uhhh… Gina is on the phone." Alexis stammered a little, still a little shocked by what she had just seen.

"What?! Tell her to go…bug someone else at …" he paused to glance at the clock on the nightstand. "7:50 on a Saturday morning!" he wanted to say something more colorful but didn't want to set a bad example for his seventeen year old daughter.

Alexis smiled, knowing that wasn't what he really wanted to say. "Ok." She replied, leaving the room and closing the door behind her, not wanting to chance seeing anything else that would haunt her for years to come, maybe even the rest of her life.

Castle chuckled. "well that was awkward."

"At least we don't have to worry about her walking in on us anymore." She said kissing him.

"True." Castle said laughing, as he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her closer to him.

"I want to sleep a little longer." She said. "Me too." He agreed.

And with that she snuggled up against his warm chest, feeling safe and protected, even though she was usually the one protecting him because of all the trouble and danger he got himself into when working on a case, and they fell asleep together once again.


	5. Sick (28 weeks) (Chapter 5)

Chapter 5 Sick (28 weeks)

Kate woke up ready to start the day. She looked over at Castle and found him still asleep so she decided to get up and take a shower. When she got out of bed she felt a little queasy, but brushed it off as morning sickness that had ended months ago. But she also could feel a head ache coming on.

"_Whatever." _She thought to herself.

But as she continued to get ready for work, she began to feel worse. By the time she was getting out of the shower twenty minutes later, she had a massive headache and was feeling extremely nauseous.

"_This can't be good."_

She began drying herself off when all of a sudden, she had to throw up.

Though she tried to be quiet so she wouldn't wake Castle up and worry him, it was pretty hard to throw up quietly. A minute or two later she heard a knock on the door. It was Castle.

"Kate? Are you alright?" he asked, the worry in his voice was obvious.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

Her throat was burning and she tried desperately not to let her voice sound hoarse, but Castle wasn't stupid and he could tell something was wrong. And then she threw up again. He opened the door to find her wrapped in a towel with her head laying on her arms as she leaned across the toilet seat. By now she was feeling absolutely horrible.

"Oh Kate.." he said gently, as he knelt on his knees beside her.

"I feel like shit Castle." she looked at him, the misery in her eyes and voice were very clear.

He wrapped his arms around her and held her close. She laid against his chest as he rubbed her back soothingly. When she looked up at him he kissed her forehead. It felt like it was on fire.

"Kate you're burning up! You're definitely sick and staying home. She knew he was right, and this was not just morning sickness.

"Can you call Gates for me?" she asked weakly, sighing.

"Yeah, but after I get you into bed." He said.

"I have to get dressed first so you can call her now while I get dressed." she said.

But as she started to get up another wave of nausea came up, and she threw up again, with Castle right beside her holding her and rubbing her back. They stayed like that for about five minutes until she felt like she could get up. This time she was able to put on some sweat pants and one of Castle's t-shirts before having to rush back to the bathroom to throw up again.

Castle called Gates and told her the situation, and then turned his attention back to his sick, pregnant wife. Seeing her like this broke his heart. He helped her into bed and brought her a trash can and put it by her bed so she didn't have to get up. He sat on the edge of the bed and felt her forehead again.

"Does your head hurt?" he asked rubbing his thumb across her forehead gently.

"Like a bitch." She said, giving him a half hearted weak smile.

"I'm going to call Dr. Moore and see if there's anything we can give you without hurting the baby." She nodded hoping desperately that there was.

After he got off the phone he turned back to his wife and said, "Tylenol. No advil or asperin."

He went into their bathroom to get the medicine and then got her some water. She took it gratefully. "Hopefully I can keep this down long enough for it to do something."

"Well luckily for you its fast acting."

She just nodded and closed her eyes. He sat on the edge of the bed again and took her hand in his, rubbing his thumb over the back of her hand.

"I'm so sorry about this Kate. I would take your place in a heartbeat if I could." He said kissing her forehead.

Within a half hour her fever had gone down, but the headache had gotten worse, and on top of that she started to throw up again. All the while Castle was right beside her, holding her hair back and giving her his hand for her to hold.

When the headache got so bad that she started to cry he wiped her tears away.

"Kate we need to keep you and the baby hydrated."

"Castle, I'm throwing up so much there is no point in me drinking anything right now." He just nodded silently and wiped the sweat from the fever off her forehead. He was very worried about her and their son.

A few hours later, she still had a headache, but it wasn't as bad, and she was still throwing up, but not every five minutes like before, and she was also able to drink water without immediately throwing it back up.

Through all of it Castle only left her side to get her water. By that evening she was still feeling pretty awful, but managed to get a little sleep in between throwing up. She was miserable for two days before she actually stared to really recover.

"Castle?" she said on the morning of the third day.

He was lying in bed beside her, his arm wrapped around her middle with his hand resting on her belly.

"Yeah? What do you need sweet heart?"

"Nothing. I just want to thank you for taking care of me."

"Always. You're my wife it's my job to take care of you. Remember our vows? "For better or worse, through sickness and in health." Besides you'll do the same for me when I get sick, which will happen eventually."

"Yeah, you're right." she said.

After one more day, she was tired, but well enough to go back to work. Everyone was very happy to see both her and Castle. (including Gates, in regards to Castle)

And the first thing Kate did was tell Lanie how amazing Castle was, even though Lanie had known he was right for since _before_ they started he and Kate started dating.


	6. Kate and Alexis (Chapter 6)

**Sorry its short but I wanted to have a special moment between Alexis and Kate. But most of my chapters are pretty long so I think ya'll will forgive me for writing a short one every now and then and actually, the rest of these chapters in this story are all pretty long. PLEASE REVIEW, GIVE ADVICE, (CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM ONLY PLEASE) AND TELL ME IF I SHOULD KEEP THIS STORY GOING.**

**ALSO**** there is a poll about Castle characters on my profile page! please go vote on who you favorite Castle character is!**

**Enjoy the chapter! **

**ALSO(again :P) i Jamie, unfortunately do NOT own Castle...Damn it. LOL! :) **

* * *

Kate was laying on the couch with her head in Castle's lap and Alexis was sitting on the other end of the couch. It was their family movie night and they were watching the end of The first Lord of the Rings movie since it was Castle's night to pick what they watched. When it was over Castle got up and went to his study to write.

"Mom?" Alexis said as the credits were rolling.

Kate looked over at her and smiled. She loved that Alexis called her Mom.

"Yeah, Lex?"

"When are you going on desk duty?"

"Tomorrow, actually. Why?" Kate replied. Tomorrow she would stop working out in the field and start desk duty, for two weeks, before she went on maternity leave.

"I've just been a little worried about you since you're so far along and still working out in the field."

"That's sweet Alexis, but don't worry. I've been careful and your dad won't let me out of his sight when we're at work." Kate said reaching out and giving her hand a gentle reassuring squeeze.

Alexis nodded. They were both quiet for a minute, staring at the screen, then Kate spoke.

"Alexis?" she said, and Alexis looked over at her, as she said, "Yeah?"

"How do you….how do you feel about…" she paused, thinking, "about your dad and I having this baby?"

Alexis didn't even have to pause and think about her answer. She immediately said, "Mom, I'm completely thrilled. For one, I've always wanted a younger brother or sister, even I'll be like thirty- something when he turns eighteen. And second of all you've been like a mom to me for a long time, and you made my dad truly happy again. He loves you so much, and I do too. Don't think for a second that I feel any differently." She said, looking into Kate's eyes and smiled, and that made Kate smile. All of a sudden, she felt movement inside her. She put Alexis' hand, which she was still holding on her belly, and when Alexis felt him move, her eyes lit up, and looked at Kate with a huge smile on her face.

"Wow! That's amazing!" she whispered, looking at Kate, who nodded.

"So you aren't upset about your dad and I getting married and me joining your family after it's been just you and your dad for so long?" Kate asked. Alexis shook her head.

After a minute or so Kate leaned towards Alexis to hug her but didn't get far before her belly got in the way, and both of them laughed. Alexis closed the rest of the distance between and wrapped her arms around Kate.

"I love you Alexis."

"I love you too, Mom."


	7. Naming Him (Chapter 7

Kate was clearing her desk and getting ready to go on maternity leave.

"Yo! Beckett!" she turned around and saw Ryan walking over to her.

"Hey, Ryan." She said.

"So today's the day huh?"

"Yup, I'll be gone till the baby is 1 month old." She replied.

"We'll still hear from you write?"

"Yeah, and Castle will come around sometimes to help with tough cases." She told him.

The elevator door dinged then the door opened, and Castle stepped out.

"Hey babe! Ready to go?" he asked walking over to her and giving her a kiss.

Ryan made a gagging noise.

Kate gave him her classic I'm going to shoot you look and gave Castle another kiss to spite him, making Castle laugh.

""Almost." She said putting the last of her things into the box sitting on her desk.

"Great!" he said.

"I need to say bye to everyone first."

"Kate Beckett Castle! I know you ain't leaving without saying bye to me. Lanie said, walking up to the group made up of Castle, Kate and Ryan, with Espo following right behind her.

Kate laughed. "Nope. I just told Castle I have to say bye to everyone before we go."

"That's what I thought." Lanie said, trying to sound stern, but just couldn't keep a straight face.

"Come here girl! You're gonna have a baby!" Lanie said, hugging her best friend.

"Good luck girl! I love you! And keep in touch. I better be the first one to be called when you go into labor." She said.

Kate laughed. "Ok you will unless I have call Castle first."

"Good enough!" she said.

"Good luck Becks!" Ryan said hugging her. Kate smacked him on the shoulder.

"You still can't call me that!"

She hugged Espo. "Bye good luck!" he said.

"Well, I guess it's time to go." Castle said wrapping his arm around Kate's shoulder.

"Don't worry guys. I'll take care of her." He said.

"That doesn't make me feel any better." Esposito said. Everyone laughed except Castle, who scowled at him.

After one last round of hugs, they walked out of the precinct together. Castle was carrying Kate's stuff in one arm and holding her hand with the other.

When they got home, he helped her out of the car ad up to the loft. She sat down on the couch and kicked her boots off. She sighed. Her ankles were swollen and her feet hurt. Castle put the box down on the coffee table and sat down next to her. He intertwined his fingers with hers and was fiddling with her wedding ring when he noticed that she was crying.

"Kate? What's wrong?" he asked gently, worry etched on his face.

"I'm just so tired and emotionally overwhelmed. And my feet and back are killing me." She said, leaning against him, burying her face into his chest, a sob escaping her lips.

"I'm so sorry baby." He said sympathetically. He put his arms around her and held her close, rubbing her back. He was heartbroken. She NEVER cried. Even the raging hormones hadn't affected her, or at least she hadn't shown it, till now, but she was tires and didn't bother fighting her tears and emotions. She wouldn't dare let anyone but Castle and Lanie know her true feelings and emotions, and even then she tried to keep her emotions from them sometimes. But right now she was tired, hormonal, and vulnerable. She needed his support. He let her cry while she buried her face in his chest and held her close.

When she looked up at him he kissed her. He moved one of his hands to her belly and rubbed it softly. He knew most of this had to do with stress, exhaustion, and hormones. She smiled weakly and put her hand on top of his.

"Well now you can relax and get some rest and not have to worry about work." He said.

She nodded and closed her tired eyes, still lying on his chest. He was quiet for a few minutes, and then he spoke.

" What do you want to name him?" he asked thoughtfully.

He was smiling down at her when she looked up at him with a small smile on her face, and he couldn't help but give her a chaste kiss on the lips.

She thought about his question for a minute before answering.

"I'm not sure about his first name, but I think I have a good middle name for him."

She said.

"Really? What is it?"

"Jacob." She replied.

"Jacob." He repeated to himself. "I like it, but why not use it as a first name?" he asked looking down at her again.

"Because, it's the name of a close friend of mine, my partner, from the police academy. He was shot in the line of duty on our third call. I don't want our son to have the same name as him; I just want to honor him." She explained.

"Oh… well I like it, so let's do it. So what about his first name?"

"Do you have any ideas, Castle?" she asked.

"Well Espo said I should name him after my character I my book, but as good as the name Jameson is, our baby needs his own name. What about…Dylan...or…or Tyler?" he suggested.

"Those are good. I like them. Anymore ideas?"

"Uuummmm… Matthew?"

"Hmm…I'm not really feeling that one. What about…Austin?" she suggested.

"That's a good one too. What if we ask my mother and Alexis which they like best out of Dylan, Austin and Tyler."

"Good idea, Castle. Is Alexis here?"

"She should be." He replied.

"Alexis!" Kate called.

"Coming!" she called back. Moments later.

"Hey mom. Is everything alright? I mean… are you okay?" Alexis asked, becoming a little worried when she saw the tear stains on Kate's cheeks.

"Don't worry Lex, I'm just tired. We were just wondering which name out of Dylan, Austin, and Tyler."

"Oh." Alexis let out a sigh of relief.

"Ummm…" she thought about it for a second before responding. "I like Dylan best."

"Your dad came up with that one." Kate said.

"What can I say. I'm a genius." Castle said shrugging his shoulders.

Kate rolled her eyes. "I take that compliment back, smart ass."

Alexis laughed. "Don't let the magical experience of naming your son turn into an argument.

"We aren't. Hey, do you know where Grams is?" Castle asked.

"She's teaching an acting class." Alexis called over her shoulder on her way back to her room.

"Oh. Well Dylan sounds good Castle. Why don't we go with that?" Kate asked.

"Dylan Jacob Castle. I like it!" Castle said.

"Well I guess you have a name, buddy." Kate said to the baby inside her. Their hands were still resting on her belly. Then she looked at Castle.

I love you, Kate." He said giving her a kiss.

"Love you too, Castle." She said when he pulled away. She laid across his chest. "You too, Dylan." Castle said, talking to her belly, knowing this time his son could actually hear him now.

Kate smiled to herself thinking about how adorable it was when he did it, pretending to be asleep while she listened to Castle talk to their son, until she eventually did fall asleep.


	8. Nursery (Chapter 8)

When Kate woke up to the smell of bacon cooking, she smiled, but didn't get up. She lay there, knowing Castle would be bringing her food. She knew he loved doing it so she stayed put so he could bring it to her. She was 38 weeks along today, and Lanie was coming over to help paint the nursery. Kate wasn't able to stand for long periods of time without taking breaks, so Lanie was coming over to help speed up the process. They'd already bought all the furniture for the nursery, all that was left to do was paint. Kate wasn't able to stand up for long periods of time without taking breaks so Lanie was coming over to help speed up the process. Kate was lost in thought when Castle walked into the room.

"Hey babe, you're up!" he said.

"Yeah, I'm up but I wish I wasn't. I feel like I haven't slept at all." She could feel that she was on the verge of getting a headache.

"Castle, I hate to break it to you, but I'm not really hungry." She said referring to the plate of food he was holding.

He looked at it. "That's okay. I'll eat it." He said.

Kate closed her eyes, rubbing her temples, trying to rub the ache in her head away.

"Headache?" he asked.

She nodded, but it hurt to even do that, and she winced at the pain. "It's probably a migraine." She said, hoping it wasn't but knowing it was.

Castle put the plate down. He wasn't really hungry anymore. It hurt him to see her in pain.

"Dad?" they heard Alexis calling from the living room.

"In my room!" he called.

"Ssshhh!" Kate shooshed him.

"Sorry." He whispered.

"I'm going to the library." She said. She saw Kate's expression and stopped.

"Mom..? Are you okay?" she asked.

Kate shook her head, wincing again at the pain.

"She's got a migraine." He told her.

"Oh. Sorry. How's Dylan?"

Kate smiled, looking down at her belly, moving one her hands to rest on it.

"He's likes moving a lot so I haven't gotten much sleep lately. Which kind of explains the headache."

"Sounds like he's going to be a lot like dad." she said.

"That's a good thing and a bad thing." Kate said looking at Castle, who grinned.

After Alexis left Lanie showed up and she and Castle painted the nursery while Kate slept.

After they finished Kate got up to admire their work.

"Great job Castle." She said giving him a kiss.

"Thanks!" putting an arm around her shoulder.


	9. Leaving? (Chapter 9)

**I need reviews PLEASE guys. If you read the chapter the review box is right there underneath it! PLEAAASSSEEEE! REVIEW! I already started writing out a sequel on paper but I need to know if it's worth my time and effort. I wanna know what ya'll like and don't like about the chapters I write and all that stuff is really helpful. **

**NEXT CHAPTER: DYLAN IS ON THE WAY! WOO HOO!**

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Kate was 3 days past her due date, which had Castle on red-alert freak out mode. Any time she put her hand to her belly when the baby kicked hard and made her grimace or wince from sharp pains he'd flip out.

Kate was relaxing on the couch with her hands resting on her belly watching the movements her sons made inside her. Castle was in his study, probably playing one of his video games. She heard the front door unlock and Alexis walked in.

"Hey mom!" she said when she saw Kate sitting on the couch. She sat down next to her. She had just returned from the movies with her friends.

"Hi, Lex." Kate replied.

"Any sign of Dylan's arrival yet?" Alexis asked.

"No but I hope there will be soon. Your dad has to make an appearance at some event in Washington State. and he's leaving tomorrow for two days. He tried to get out of it, but apparently this is a big deal and he can't miss it." Kate explained.

Kate saw the anger Alexis felt flood her face.

"What?! So he told Gina his wife is 3 days past her due date and could go into labor any second and she's still making him go to the other side of the country for 2 days? That's so messed up!" Alexis was steaming with anger.

Alexis saw Kate as her mom and she knew Kate would need Castle when she was in labor so it bothered her that Gina was being so inconsiderate of his situation, but she couldn't do anything about it. Or could she?

"I think Gina is jealous and is doing this on purpose." Alexis said.

Kate hadn't thought about that but it made sense. But since she didn't like making assumptions she decided to call her.

As it turns out, Gina was polite and worked with Kate and managed to reschedule the event for a month later. But she didn't tell Castle because she didn't want him to know she had confronted Gina about the situation. She didn't know why, she just didn't want him to know for some reason.

A minute later Castle came charging out of his study.

"Guess what!"

"What?" Kate said casually pretending she had no idea what was going on.

"Gina just called and said that she managed to push this event back a month!"

"Really? That's great!" she said getting up, slowly, even though she was trying to get up quickly she couldn't. But when she was finally standing up she hugged him and then he kissed her. Then a minute later, they somehow ended up making out, in front of Alexis.

"Uh! Gross! Get a room please!" she said. Kate and Castle broke apart momentarily and looked at each other.

Castle looked around the room and then grabbed a throw pillow off the couch and held it up so Alexis couldn't see their faces.

"Uh!" Alexis huffed, exasperated. Kate and Castle laughed as they went back to making out.


	10. Here He Comes (PT 1) (Chapter 10)

Later that night Kate awoke with a start for some reason.

"_He probably kicked." _ She thought to herself.

She looked at the clock on the nightstand beside her. 3:19 A.M. She sighed. She put her hand on her belly and rubbed slow gentle circles, trying to sooth her son so she could go back to sleep. A little while later she felt something and it wasn't him kicking. But the feeling painful and was in her abdomen and her lower back.

"_Oh my God! It's a contraction! Thank God Gina was able to reschedule the event. I need to remind myself to send her a thank you card or something." _ She thought as she realized what it was that she was feeling. It wasn't painful; however she could feel her muscles contracting, which she hadn't noticed until she realized she was having contractions. She knew that the hospital wouldn't admit her until her contractions were no more than seven minutes apart, or until her water broke, whichever came first, and besides, they didn't even hurt yet. Knowing that Castle would flip out if she woke him up, she decided not to wake him up yet.

After a while, she realized that the contractions were not at all consistent, which meant she probably wasn't actually in labor yet. The doctor told her that this might happen. He called them Braxton Hicks contractions. Some women suffer from them for weeks before they actually go into labor. Kate relaxed a little knowing this and somehow managed to go back to sleep.

But when she woke up again around 5 A.M., the contractions were ten minutes apart and weren't that _painful_, but they were starting to hurt, whereas before she could feel the muscles contracting but they didn't hurt at all. As she started to try to get comfortable again she suddenly felt her water break.

"_Oh boy! Here we go."_

"Castle!" she whispered.

"Castle!" she said louder, shaking him.

"Hmm?" he mumbled.

"My water just broke."

"Mmm. That's nice." He mumbled, about to go back to sleep. But after about thirty seconds he registered what he had heard and bolted upright in bed so fast he fell off the bed.

Even though she was in a little bit of pain she laughed. When he got up she was still smiling, but then her smile turned into a grimace and she squeezed her eyes shut, breathing through the pain, silently for now, but not for long. She let out a deep breath and opened her eyes Castle was still standing there with a pained look on his face, his heart hurt seeing her in any amount of pain. Since she was stubborn she had decided not to get and epidural or any other pain medicine. She had told him she wanted to do this naturally, and although he didn't tell her, he didn't like that because it meant he would have to see her in excruciating pain and wouldn't be able to do anything about it.

"Castle, I think we need to go." Kate said calmly.

Castle snapped back into reality, and panicked a little.

"Oh! Right! Uhhh… Oh! Okay! So how apart are they?" He asked her, as he regained his composure slowly and taking charge.

"I stopped keeping track a while ago, but ten minutes or something, but it doesn't matter anymore because my water broke." She said as she felt another contraction coming.

"Uh, right! Okay… so let's go." He said absent mindedly putting on his shoes, and he was only wearing his boxers.

"I'll go get Alexis and you get dressed or at least put shoes on." He said, running out of the room to get Alexis.

Alexis wasn't really surprised when her dad came barreling into her room at 5 A.M. Practically yelling, "Get up! We're taking Kate to the hospital!" What she was surprised by, well she really wasn't _that _surprised, by the fact that he was wearing nothing but shoes and his boxers.

Alexis laughed, and Castle got upset. "Why are you laughing? She's in pain and we need to go!"

She laughed again as she said, "Dad, look what you're wearing. I think you forgot something, or some_thing's._" She said.

He looked down and blushed, running back to his room.

"I forgot to put clothes on." He told Kate casually as if it wouldn't have been a big a deal if he had forgotten and went out in public wearing only his shoes and boxers.

Kate started to laugh, but it turned into another silent grimace as another wave of pain came over her. In the middle of the contraction Alexis walked in and when she saw Kate face she turned around to leave, but not before Kate saw her.

"Alexis I'm fine." Kate told her. She saw tears forming in Alexis' eyes. "

Kate got up and walked over to her.

She wrapped her arms around her and said, "Alexis I know you don't like seeing me in pain, but I am fine. I just think about the moment Dylan gets here and all this pain will be worth it. The moment I hear his first cry I'll forget all the pain and my focus be on him. Okay?"

Alexis nodded and she really did look like her nerves had been calmed at least a little bit.

Castle found the bag he had packed a month before and then they hit the road.

As soon as they were rolling Kate called Lanie, whom she had on speed dial.

"Hello?" Lanie answered, her voice made it obvious that she had been asleep. Kate had forgotten how early it was. It was 5:43 A.M. and still dark out.

"Hey Lanie. Its Kate and…" Lanie cut her off.

"I'm on my way to the hospital and meet you there." Was all she said before hanging up.

"Oookayyy." Kate said, looking at Castle. "All she said was "I'm on my way to the hospital and I'll meet you there." And then she hung up.

Castle laughed. Kate was about to laugh too but all of a sudden another contraction came, the worst so far and she cried out in pain.

Castle held out his hand for her to hold while he drove with his left.

"They're getting worse Castle." She said in pain.

"I know baby. I'm going as fast I can." He told her.

"Keep the speed limit Castle. They're not that bad yet." She said.

Another wave of pain came.

Castle said "We're almost there."

"Thank God." She said.


	11. Here He Comes (PT 2) (Chapter 11)

**PLEASE REVIEW!**

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When they finally pulled into the hospital parking lot, the pain was getting pretty bad.

Lanie, Jim, and Espo were waiting at the entrance.

"_How the hell did they get here before us? We were on the way before we…" _his thought was interrupted by a cry from Kate as another contraction came. She grabbed his wrist and squeezed it hard.

"Ow!" he cried.

"Shut up, Castle!" she said with clenched teeth.

"Sorry babe." He said feeling bad for being insensitive to how much pain she was in.

Alexis was already running to Lanie. She had tears in her eyes. "Lanie she's hurting so bad. I can't stand seeing her in so much pain."

"I know sweetie, but she's a strong woman and she'll be fine." Lanie said, giving her a hug.

Meanwhile, Castle was helping Kate get out of the car. She tool his hand, but when they started slowly making their way to the entrance Kate stopped and doubled over as she cried out in pain. She buried her face in Castle's chest, moaning in pain. He held her in his arms, supporting her and rubbing her back.

When it ended she took his hand and they slowly made their way to the entrance. But when everyone all came rushing towards them, he put the hand Kate wasn't holding in a death grip in front of her protectively.

"No guys! I need to get her checked in and…" but he was interrupted by another cry of pain from Kate. Again she buried her face into his chest, moaning in pain.

"Hang in there, Kate." He whispered gently in her ear, still holding her in his arms.

They finally made it inside and got Kate settled inside a room.

Even though she was still in a lot of pain she was relieved to be in bed and with Castle by her side giving her his full support and attention.

She was holding his hand and had her eyes closed as she tried to relax, but was failing. She was scared and in pain, but she wouldn't let him know she was scared, not yet anyway.

"Are you a little more comfortable now?" he asked her.

She shook her head. Another wave of pain came and she squeezed his hand tightly.

"Oh my God, Castle! It hurts so bad!" she cried in pain, with her teeth clenched. She had tears forming in her eyes.

"I know baby. I'm so sorry Kate." He said gently.

When the contraction was over he wiped the tears away with the pad of his thumb and the sweat from her forehead with the sleeve of his shirt.

"You're doing great Kate. I'm so proud of you."

She couldn't stand it anymore. She had to tell him she was scared. She needed to hear him tell her that she was going to be fine and that everything would be okay.

"Castle…" she paused, "Castle I'm scared." She finally said, taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly.

"Kate, you know everything will be fine. The doctors know what they're doing and I'm right here with you the whole time." He said putting his hand on her cheek. He gave her a kiss.

Kate nodded.

"Ahhh!" she cried out in pain as a sudden pain came over her. She grabbed his hand again.

She moaned as she tried to breathe through the pain. The doctor walked in and sat down on the stool at the end of the bed.

When the contraction ended, he looked at them and started asking questions.

"Okay, so how far apart are the contractions?"

"Seven minutes." Kate said looking at Castle for reassurance; he gave her a slight nod, knowing she was terrified right now.

"Okay. I'm going to check you and see how dilated you are so we can figure out how close we are to pushing okay?"

Kate nodded. Castle felt her squeezing his hand again, terrified. He gave her a reassuring squeeze.

"You'll be okay." He whispered.

After the doctor checked her he said, "About 8 centimeters so it'll probably be about 4 to 5 hours." He said.

Kate groaned. "I can't do this." She said looking at Castle, desperation on her face.

The doctor shrugged insensitively and walked out.

That pissed Castle off a lot. "You can do this baby. You're strong." He said, but he was staring at the doorway the doctor had just exited.

"That ass hole." He mumbled to himself.

Another contraction came, the most intense so far. She cried out in pain. "Make it stop! Castle! Please make it stop!" she cried.

Castle felt like a knife was being twisted in his heart. He couldn't bare seeing her in pain, but he had to be strong for her.

"Breathe Kate. You need to breathe baby." He said gently, kissing her forehead.

Kate tried to breathe but the pain made it impossible.

"Kate you need to breathe or you're going to pass out, baby." He said, wiping her forehead again.

Kate tried to focus on breathing, but every time she had a contraction she held her breath. She was squeezing his hand in the middle of a contraction when she got light headed and the next thing she knew she passed out, partially from not breathing enough and partially from how excruciating the pain was. Castle didn't freak out because this had happened when Meredith had Alexis. He pressed the nurse call button and when the nurse walked in he said, "The pain was so bad and she wasn't breathing enough and she passed out." Just as the nurse was getting the ammonia packet to wake her up she came to.

"Wha…what happened Castle?" she asked, hazily.

"You passed out because you weren't breathing enough." He told her.

"Oh."

"Wear this for a few minutes." The nurse said, putting an oxygen mask over her mouth and nose, Castle held it there instead of having Kate wear the strap, which he happened to know she hated from when she was shot.

After a few more hours the doctor came back and checked her again.

"You're just about there and we can start getting set up for delivery." He said plainly and walked out of the room.

"What an insensitive ass hole." Castle said.

He felt Kate grab his hand as another contraction came.

"You ready to be a mama?" he asked her when it was over.

She nodded. "Only because I know I have you to help me." She said giving him a weak smile.

**TBC! HE'S COMING IN THE NEXT CHAPTER!**


	12. This is It (Chapter 12)

**Okay guys this is the last actual chapter, but there will be an epilogue and a sequel after that.**

**But if you read it review it! It's not that hard. The review box is right underneath the end of the chapter! Thnx!**

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Chapter 12: This Is It

It had been almost half an hour since the doctor had said that they could start setting up for delivery. Nobody had come back in or told them anything since he'd left.

Kate was squeezing his hand, yelling in pain.

"Where…where are…are the Doctors Castle?" she asked panting, as she tried to catch her breath.

"I don't know baby, I don't know." He said, defeated. He hung his head between his knees, on the verge of tears. It was killing him, having to watch the strong, tough, woman; whom he loved more than anything in the world, go through this because he knew that if she was crying it had to be really, really bad.

He felt her squeezing his and again and her cries of pain.

"Oh my god! Castle! Make it stop! Please make the pain stop!"

Castle couldn't take it anymore.

"I'll be right back babe." He said as he getting up.

"Wait! Where are you going?" she asked still squeezing his hand but gently.

"To find the damn doctor and get him to do his fricken job." He was clearly frustrated.

"Okay, but hurry." She said.

He nodded and walked out of the room.

He walked over to the nurses station.

"Can I help you?" a young blonde haired nurse asked politely.

"Well you can start doing your job for starters." He said frustrated.

"Excuse me?" she said clearly very confused.

"My wife and I were told over half an hour ago by a rude doctor that ya'll would start setting up for delivery, and nobody ever came back or informed us of anything, and she's in there yelling in pain."

The nurse's face got red. "You must have been dealing with Dr. Cooper. I don't like him either. He left half an hour ago, and I guess he didn't tell anyone what was going on. I'll find another…"

But she was interrupted by a voice that came behind them.

"Castle?" Kate said.

He spun around in surprise.

"Kate! You should be in bed!" he said rushing over to her.

"I'm fine Castle." But she spoke to soon. She doubled over in pain, moaning loudly. Castle wrapped his arms around her, supporting her.

"Hang in there baby. Just focus on breathing." He whispered.

When it ended he looked her in the eyes. "Why are you out of bed?"

"Because you were taking too long." She said.

"I'm not the one that's taking too long, it's them." He said, glaring at the nurse.

"Sorry. I'll go find a doctor." She said blushing.

"Castle, don't be mean to her. She trying to help and it's not her fault that it's been this long of a wait, it's that ass hole doctor's fault." She said laying her head on his shoulder closing her eyes.

He sighed. "I know. Now come on, let's get you back in bed.

A little while after they were settled back into the room, a doctor and two nurses, one of them was the one they had talked to at the nurse's station, walked into the room. This doctor had a kind looking face.

"Okay, are we ready to bring this little one into the world?" he asked cheerfully. If it were any other person being cheerful while his wife was in pain, he would be pissed, but somehow, he could tell the doctor was just trying ease the nervousness that he knew he and Kate were feeling. They were holding each other's hands tightly, especially Kate.

Castle grinned and nodded.

"God, yes!" Kate said.

The doctor chuckled.

"Okay then! Let's get started."

And suddenly the room was bustling with activity. The doctor scrubbed his hands, as did the nurses and they all put on gloves. Then started sterilizing stuff everything and making other preparations for delivery.

The reality of what was happening came rushing into Kate's mind.

"Castle I'm scared."

"Don't be. These doctors will take good care of you and our son, okay?"

She nodded, but she was still squeezing his hand tightly. Just when Castle thought she couldn't squeeze it any harder, another contraction came and proved him wrong, as Kate yelled out in pain and squeezed his hand harder.

"Ow!" he said.

Kate glared at him. "Shut up, Castle. You have no idea what this feels like!"

Castle opened his mouth to say something else, but decided that his life was worth more than making a smart ass remark to a pregnant, bad ass cop in labor, especially since it was his wife and she probably would shoot him.

His thoughts were interrupted, this time not by Kate's pain, but by the doctor's voice.

"Okay we're all set and we can get started." He said as he sat down on the stool at the end of the bed.

"So Kate what I need you to do for me is…" but he was interrupted by a yell of pain from Kate. She struggled to breathe through it because of the pain.

"Try to breathe in a steady rhythm." The doctor coached. Castle decided that he liked this guy.

When the contraction was over, the doctor continued to give instructions.

"So Kate what I need you to do is when a contraction starts, start pushing. You'll push while

I count to ten and when I get to ten you stop pushing and breathe until the next contraction, or when you catch your breath, and then we'll do it again. But if I say to stop or tell you not to push, you have to not push, even if you feel like you need to. Do you have any questions?"

"Can I have some water?"

Castle chuckled.

"We can get you some ice chips to suck on." He replied.

She nodded.

For a moment they were alone in the room again.

"You're stalling, aren't you?"

"No!" she said too defensively.

He just looked at her.

She sighed. "Okay fine. I'm scared. What if Dylan isn't healthy? What if there are complications? What if… what if.. if…" Castle cut her off.

"Kate. You are the strongest woman I know and ever will know. You have gone to hell and back so many times I can't even count. You were shot in the heart and died twice and came back to life twice and are still alive today, about to be a mommy. You can do this. Besides, I'll be here every step of the way. I love you." He said kissing her.

"I love you too."

Then the doctor walked in.

"Okay Kate, when you're ready." The doctor said.

Kate looked at Castle, who gave her a slight nod and gave her hand a reassuring squeeze.

When the next contraction came, she started to push, but the new intensity of the pain hit her like a ton of bricks.

She yelled in pain. "Oh my God! Castle, I can't do this!" she said shaking her head, tears were streaming down her face.

"Kate you can do this! Think about Dylan and his first cry and holding him for the first time." He told her wiping her forehead with a cloth.

She just nodded, and when the next contraction came she pushed.

As she yelled in pain the doctor counted and told her she was doing great, but she didn't hear him. She was yelling and she was zeroed in on Castle's voice.

"You're doing great babe, but you got to breathe. Remember to breathe."

She tried but it was getting more difficult as time went by.

After what seemed like hours, really only 10 seconds, the doctor told her to stop pushing and breathe.

She lay back against the pillow. Castle smiled at her.

"You're doing great." He said, brushing a few loose hairs stuck to her forehead and wiped the sweat away.

"It hurts so much, Castle." She said weakly.

"I know, I'm so sorry Kate." He said, his heart was in pieces from seeing her in this much pain for so long.

She felt another contraction coming and groaned.

"You can do this baby." Castle whispered.

She nodded and took a deep breath and started to push.

After a few more pushes the doctor said he could see the head. Kate was exhausted but she wanted to be done with this.

"This is it Kate. You're about to be a mommy." Castle said, giving her a little strength.

When the next contraction came she gathered every ounce of strength she had left, which wasn't much, and pushed harder than she had any other time. Then she heard the best sound she had ever heard; her son's first cry. She looked at Castle and smiled weakly. The doctor let Castle cut the cord. She started to feel light headed and the room was spinning. Exhaustion took over and she passed out.

When she woke up she had a oxygen mask on and Castle sitting next to her bed holding their son.

She took the mask off.

"Castle?"

He looked up at her and smiled.

"Hey.?

"What happened?"

The delivery exhausted you and passed out. You've only been out a few minutes."

"Oh. Well they got him cleaned up and got out of here fast."

"Yeah they were really fast." He replied.

"So he's okay?"

"Yep. The doctor said he's perfectly healthy." He said.

"Let me hold him." She said reaching out for her baby boy.

Castle smiled at her and handed her Dylan. When she finally held her son for the first time it was the most amazing thing she had ever felt.

"_Wow. This is amazing." _She thought to herself.

Castle laid next to her and he soon fell asleep while Kate stared down at her son and thought about her future as a mommy and as a wife and what her new life would be like because when she left this hospital, a new chapter in her life would begin.


	13. Epilogue explanation

Epilogue, but not really.

Sorry guys. I can't think of any other ways to sum up the story than how I did at the end of the last chapter so I'm just going to start the next story of this series. Thanks for all of yall's support throughout this story as it is my first one! I'm posting the intro to my next story today!


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